Odds & Ends: Buchholz, Burnett, Yanks, Cards

Some links as the weekend draws closer…

• Thought the Red Sox were going to deal Clay Buchholz this summer? You're not alone. Buchholz tells WEEI.com's Rob Bradford he expected to be traded because of all the rumors.
• Peter Abraham of the Journal News points out that one of the Yankees' biggest acquisitions of the year, A.J. Burnett, has pitched poorly over the course of his last nine starts. Now Burnett must prove to his teammates that he's ready for the Division Series.
• Tom Verducci of SI.com says the Yankees' plan to add power pitchers to the rotation worked (even if Burnett has struggled lately). It's hard to argue with 94 wins in mid-September, but there's more to the Yanks than their rotation.
• Verducci notes that some of the best free agent signings happened late last offseason and some of the worst ones were finalized early. Could we see GMs play the waiting game this winter? 
• Joel Pineiro, Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa will have to wait until the season's over to sign their next contracts. Cards GM John Mozeliak told Bernie Miklasz that the team doesn't expect to negotiate deals with prospective free agents before the season ends.